So says Fox Business News contributor (and erstwhile actor turned stock investor and money manager) Wayne Rogers, on hearing the news that 111 companies have been given health insurance waivers by the Department of Health and Human Services:

According to the HHS website, as of Nov. 1, the Obama Administration has given waivers to 111 organizations (including dozens of labor union locals, health insurance underwriters, and organized employee benefit funds) exempting them from the mandated changes in health insurance coverage that will go into effect January 1, 2011, when the Affordable Care Act is officially the law of the land.

And of course Wayne Rogers is absolutely correct. Handing out these waivers to large corporations and union-affiliated special interests is a direct admission by the Obama Administration that the Affordable Care Act actually makes health insurance more expensive. Has there been a single health insurance provider who has been able to use the Affordable Care Act requirements to expand coverage while reducing the cost of their premiums? I can't think of any offhand.

The truth is that small to medium sized businesses are not expecting to see any real health care "savings." They are not hiring new employees with the money they will "save" on health-related expenses; in fact, they are are scrambling to cut costs and beef up their cash reserves because they are expecting to be saddled with either huge health insurance premium increases, or heavy fines if they can no longer afford to provide the required coverages for their employees.

It's also pretty fair to also assume that most small and medium sized businesses, particularly those just large enough to fall under the Affordable Care Act's rules, will not have the resources to petition the HHS Secretary and be awarded a waiver. They will be stuck paying the increased costs associated with Obamacare, while Big Business and Big Labor get to play by a different set of rules. (Such an arrangement is a classic textbook definition of "crony capitalism".)

And in related news, remember how we were told we HAD to pass Obamacare because millions of Americans had no access to affordable health insurance due to pre-existing conditions? HHS predicted that within the first year of availability, 375,000 Americans with pre-existing conditions would apply for coverage under the new affordable Obamacare health insurance plans that have no exclusions based on pre-existing conditions.

Mr. Obama declared [in July 2010] that "uninsured Americans who've been locked out of the insurance market because of a pre-existing condition will now be able to enroll in a new national insurance pool where they'll finally be able to purchase quality, affordable health care--some for the very first time in their lives."

So far that statement accurately describes a single person in North Dakota. Literally, one person has signed up out of 647,000 state residents. Four people have enrolled in West Virginia. Things are better in Minnesota, where Mr. Obama has rescued 15 out of 5.2 million, and also in Indiana--63 people there. HHS did best among the 24.7 million Texans. Thanks to ObamaCare, 393 of them are now insured.

States had the option of designing their own pre-existing condition insurance with federal dollars in lieu of the HHS plan, and 27 chose to do so. But they haven't had much more success. Combined federal-state enrollment is merely 8,011 nationwide as of November 1, according to HHS.(emphasis added)

If you are a regular WizBang reader, you already know why so few people have signed up for our Glorious New People's Health Insurance Plans -- their catastrophic coverage is lackluster and their cost is anything but "affordable" particularly in today's hard times, with insurance premiums starting anywhere from $200 - $300 per month and topping out at over $700 per month.

ADDED: A hat tip to commenter GarandFan, who reminded me of yet another ObamaCare deception -- a huge chunk of the bill's "cost savings" are tied directly to the 1997 Sustainable Growth Rate rules for government expenditures that, if enacted, would result in an immediate 23% across the board cut in payments for medical treatments covered by Medicare.

Of course Congress has been postponing these cuts for the past 13 years, and in the next few weeks they will probably pass a resolution to postpone them again. I'm not arguing that the SGR cuts must be enacted (if they were suddenly put into place the consequences for Medicare and Tricare providers would be disastrous). I am simply saying that without the SGR Medicare cuts, most of ObamaCare's "cost savings" vanish. The Democrats lied to us when they deliberately chose to ignore this fact and claimed that ObamaCare would substantially lower the cost of health care.

New England Health Care is one of those obtaining a wavier. It's not an insurance company or a for-profit business. It's a "policy institute" dedicated to transforming health care for the benefit of patients and their families.

Every one of those 111 is complicit in the destruction of our liberties.

obama and the libs will never acknowledge that this is a clear demonstration that their plan fails the American people. At least in obama's case he has the excuse that this is actually exactly what he intended. He wants the destruction of health care and for people to be utterly dependent upon the government. Companies and individuals willbe forced to comply with many other things in order to sustain the waivers they have been granted.

For the rest of the lefties, many of them are too ignorant of reality and see the waivers as companies lacking faith in their new order. They have no idea what they have wrought.

I guess you never heard about this documented bar altercation in which Wayne Rogers accosted Robert Ryan - a champion of civil rights - for no other reason than being a WWII vet (how un-American). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjPKzBiEB0A Fortunately, the pansy liberal teaches the chest-puffing chickenhawk a lesson.

you know these trolls have nothing because their first argument is the race card.

Listen jerks. Even if we wanted to oppose obama for the most racist reasons imaginable, we are giving you substantive issues to address. Your cowardly playing of the race card is a cop out and the American public see it for what it is. Nobody cares if they are called a racist anymore. It doesn't hold any meaning because you have abused it so much.

We oppose obama on real issues. Always have. You cannot come up with a single cogent argument to support him. You are just more evidence of the emptiness of his policies.

And ironically, by overplaying the race card you lefties have given great cover for real racists. You have wiped out the stigma for real racism and given people cover for discrimination. Hope you're proud of setting race relations back 60 years.

And that doesn't even go back to the civil war where the entire Confederate government was Democrat.

SO why don't you wake up to history and realize that the same party opposes minorities getting access to good education. That their idea of good education is busing black kids so they can be closer to white kids and that will make them smart. It's the same party that made rules for welfare that trapped people on it and opposed the reforms that Clinton signed that got people (mostly minorities) off of it.

It's the same party that loosened the lending laws so minorities were sucked into home loans they couldn't afford and now those minorities are loosing those homes.

It's the same party that has pushed universities to enroll poorly educated minorities so they have good Freshman enrollment data, but those students aren't prepared so the flunk out. If they had gone to a more appropriate school they would have graduated. Most minorities that flunk out of a top university never go back to get their degree.

Dems have been and still are the party of keeping people down and dependent upon government for handouts. They have never wanted minorities to succeed. They had decades in charge and minorities have never benefited. Why is that? Why have they never done anything substantive to help? Why are minorities (specifically blacks) still stuck in the inner cities and in poverty? It's because they have been waiting for the dems to help them. But if the dems help them they know that they won't be needed anymore so they ust make sure to keep them all down on the plantation.

In reply:
"I have not experienced the charges of racism that the NAACP is touting," Vernon Parker, an African-American tea party congressional candidate in Arizona, told POLITICO.

Parker, former mayor of Paradise Valley, said that he has never felt out of place at a tea party rally because of the color of his skin."

And

"Tim Scott, a GOP congressional nominee in South Carolina, echoed Parker's sentiments in a statement.

"I believe that the NAACP is making a grave mistake in stereotyping a diverse group of Americans who care deeply about their country and who contribute their time, energy and resources to make a difference," Scott said."

Look Barak, we all here understand this is a very difficult time for you. You realize you voted for a loser and as a coping mechanism you act out against others. This kind of behavior happens in kindergarten all the time. The United States electorate took Obama to the wood shed two weeks ago and this past week the G20 collectively turned a deaf ear to him. Accept it, the whole world is racist - I mean, it would seem your logic would suggest that. It sucks being you today I guess but I assume today is not any different than any other day for you.

I am curious why Barak2012 posted a reference to a movie in which Wayne Rogers was an actor as if that proved anything. Barak2012 might just as well have claimed Rogers was anti war because he played Trapper John in MASH.

"Barak2012 posted a reference to a movie in which Wayne Rogers was an actor"

And what a great movie too, Rick. "Odds Against Tomorrow" is a classic 1959 film noir directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Ryan, Harry Belafonte, and Shelley Winters. That bar scene was Wayne Rogers' first on-screen role.

I had forgotten about this little cinematic gem until Barak2012 brought it up. So I'll have to say "thanks".

By running up our debt and debasing our currency he has turned our nation into an international pariah. He was scorned in an unprecedented way in Seoul this week. No President has ever been treated with such dishonor.

I cannot help but think that it is exactly the way he intended. The worst is yet to come. He has not finished destroying our economy and our freedoms. He hopes that by destroying the economy we might willingly give up our freedoms.

But..but...but....Michael! Nancy ASSURED US that 'this time we're serious, the cuts SHALL BE MADE!'

Interesting piece in the paper today, from a local doctor. Last time she had to go through this charade, she had to obtain a line of credit in order to pay her rent, staff, etc, while the government dallied on postponing the 23% cuts.

She also took exception to Obama's instance on paying based on patient "outcome". She asked how one would judge an oncologist. Seeing as they deal with patients with cancer - a high percentage of which are not going to be restored to health. Should the doctor then game the system and only treat those who's chances of survival are high?

I can see where they will rate doctors based on cost. Physicians who treat patients above the average cost will be penalized. Those who do it on the cheap will be bonused. There will be no incentive to provide good care, just cheap.

Plus they will be forced to cut office staff and nursing. You can't take an industry growing above the rate of the general economy and turn it to negative growth (wake up libs THAT is what cutting the cost of health care really means) and not cut jobs.

Barry has never done anything to cut the cost of health care. He has only promised to cut what he pays for it. With costs staying the same and payments going down that means fewer jobs and poorer standard of care.

Obviously, Obama's supporters are of substandard intelligence, else they wouldn't have supported him in the first place.

But even stupid people should have had that cold slap in the face of reality by now, so those who persist in supporting the buffoon-in-chief loser are either part of the small core of radical America-hating leftists, or else just zombies, ambling aimlessly towards polling places to feed on the flesh of the living.

GM was bankrupted last time by their overwhelming healthcare obligations. This time they're backed by FedGov, and won't go under unless FedGov says so. Ford is proudly a private company, currently playing the part of Rearden Steelworks.